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One Thousand Words of A Like List

I’ve been fan of Neil Patrick Harris since I saw him on Broadway, so I follow him on Twitter. He often tweets “things I dig” followed by a short list of things he, well, digs.

I think that’s fun so I thought I’d try it tonight. Only I never use the word “dig” unless I’m actually using a shovel, so it’s things I like. And it’s longer than a tweet.

(I know I wrote a post about things that make me happy back in June, but it’s good to repeatedly remind yourself of all the things that make you happy in life.)

Tonight I’m going to start with Claritin. I only have allergies in the fall, when it’s time to pick apples and pumpkins and go for long walks down leaf covered lanes. But I couldn’t do those things without Claritin. Other allergy medication makes me dopey, but with Claritin I stop sneezing and I’m wide awake. Do I sound like a commercial yet?

Next is The West Wing. I know it’s been off the air for a long time now, but it’s still my favorite tv show. It took me a while to get into it, but once I figured out who all the characters were, I was hooked. When it was over, I actually watched the whole series again on Netflix.

The best part is when Martin Sheen puts on his jacket. If you haven’t seen it, it’s hard to explain. He kind of throws it over his head and waves his arms around.

I had never seen Wall Street, but watched it a few weeks ago. Martin Sheen put his jacket on the exact same way. I was so excited that I think I yelled out, “President Bartlett!”

I absolutely love spotting actors I’ve seen on Broadway in tv shows. I’ve probably written about this before, but nothing makes me happier to be able to announce, “I saw him in Spring Awakening” or “I saw her in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”

You know how sports people keep track of their favorite players? That’s what I do with Broadway actors. I’m not obsessed. I don’t know every show they’ve been in, just the ones I’ve seen. You feel like you have a connection to them somehow. It makes you happy to see them get another job.

The all time winner in this game is Denis O’Hare. I’ve seen him in Assassins, Sweet Charity and Take Me Out. And he’s been on almost every single television show ever made. I get to point him out a lot.

I really like public radio. This is a little hard for me to admit, because there was a time not so long ago that I used to tease my mother for listening to NPR. I told her she was old.

Then three years ago, I faced an extremely stressful work situation. It was kind of like a work divorce. My boss, who I had worked with for seven years or so, left abruptly and I was promoted to the position. You’d think that was a good thing, and it was, but it was a very messy situation and I don’t do that well with messy. I like neat.

Dealing with all that, my mind was constantly racing. I couldn’t shut down and relax. At the time I had a 20 minute car ride to and from work. I usually listened to music, but it just wasn’t distracting enough to keep me from dwelling on and worrying about work. So I switched to NPR. Listening to words gave me something else to think about.

Now I’m addicted. I often start sentences “I heard on NPR that…” I love Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me and This American Life. I find myself humming along to the theme of All Things Considered. And yes, my mother teases me.

Ok, this one is bad for me, but I love potato chips. I think that if I had to choose only one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be potato chips. (Although bagels would be a close second.)

I know they have no nutritional value, but they are so yummy! And there are so many varieties… kettle chips, regular chips, baked chips, chips with ridges. And flavors… salt and vinegar, salt and pepper, barbecue, sour cream and onion. I’ve never tried pickle flavored chips, though.

And I have to confess that I eat a lot of sandwiches just so I have the excuse to have potato chips.

I really enjoy taking classes. I got my Masters in Arts Administration a couple of years ago and, although the process of going to school while working full time was a little stressful, I loved the learning. I like the interaction with my classmates, the books, the supplies and even writing papers. Well, all the papers except my thesis. I could have done without that process.

Even now, I try to attend workshops, either professional development for work or fun things like jewelry and collage making or writing classes. Anything to keep my mind active and learn something new.

I love the thesaurus, both the actual book and the computer version. I use it all the time at work and when I’m writing my blog. Sometimes I just look through it for no reason at all.

When I use the thesaurus, I often think of one of the episodes of Friends where Joey writes a letter and discovers the computer’s thesaurus. He replaces so many of the words with synonyms that the meaning of the letter changes entirely. I’ve never done that, but I’ve come close. It’s kind of addictive.

Lastly, for tonight anyway, I love office supply stores. All that paper! All those pens! I can just wander up and down the aisles for hours picking out highlighters and post it notes.

I feel like I should end with a quote from Sound of Music. You know the one. “These are a few of my favorite things…”